BALTIMORE (AP) — When the Baltimore Orioles are in a home-run groove, anyone in the lineup is capable of hitting the ball out — regardless of who’s serving it up.

Just ask the St. Louis Cardinals, who have absorbed two straight whippings from the AL East leaders.

Caleb Joseph homered in his fifth consecutive game, Nelson Cruz hit his 30th and Delmon Young also went deep as the Orioles beat John Lackey and the Cardinals 10-3 Saturday.

All three home runs came with a man on against Lackey (1-1), making his second start since coming from Boston in a July 31 trade. The right-hander gave up nine runs and 13 hits in five-plus innings to fall to 14-8 lifetime against Baltimore.

The Orioles have hit nine homers in winning the first two games of the three-game set by a collective 22-5 score. Baltimore has captured seven straight series and leads the AL East by six games, its largest margin since September 1997.

“Obviously, they are a hot team right now,” Lackey said. “You got to give them a lot of credit. They’re swinging the bats well. Hits were falling in. A couple of them were hit real hard and they went out of the yard.”

Joseph, a rookie, had three homers in his first 48 games before his recent power surge. The club record for homers in successive games is six, by Reggie Jackson and Chris Davis.

“Maybe seven, eight months ago I was thinking about hanging it up,” Joseph said. “Every day in the big leagues is such a blessing, and especially to be on this team with this group of guys and to be in first place.”

Baltimore leads the majors with 147 homers and has connected in eight straight games. Over the last two days, the Orioles have gotten home runs from eight different players.

“This is a team that is swinging the bat well,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “When you have some confidence in the entire lineup, it doesn’t matter who is pitching. It’s just another one of those days. I don’t think there have been many times this year when we said, ‘It’s one of those days,’ two days in a row. They just kept swinging.”

Ubaldo Jimenez (4-8) returned from a stint on the disabled list with a sprained right ankle to earn his first win since May 8. He allowed three runs, six hits and three walks over six innings.

Jimenez, who signed a four-year, $50 million contract during the offseason, was 0-5 with a 10.55 ERA in day games and 1-6 at home.

“The guys have been on a good run in the last month, last month-and-a-half and so I am very happy to be part of it,” the right-hander said.

Jon Jay homered and had two RBIs and Jhonny Peralta hit two doubles for the Cardinals, now 7-12 in interleague play.

An RBI double by Peralta gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead in the first, but Matt Holliday was thrown out while trying to score on the hit.

After Jay hit his second homer in 266 at-bats in the second, Baltimore went in front in the bottom half when Young doubled in a run and Joseph homered.

Cruz connected in the third after an infield hit by Adam Jones for a 5-2 lead. It was his first homer since July 25.

Young homered to cap a three-run fifth, and the Orioles chased Lackey in the sixth with three straight singles.

— Associated Press —

BALTIMORE (AP) — On a night in which the Orioles wore 1954 throwback uniforms to mark the 60th anniversary of their arrival in Baltimore, the team administered an old-fashioned whipping on the St. Louis Cardinals.

J.J. Hardy hit two of the Orioles’ season-high six home runs, and Baltimore cruised to a 12-2 victory Friday night to move a season-high 17 games over .500.

It was a rare blowout for the Orioles, who scored three runs or fewer in 11 of their 20 previous games and have played 63 games decided by one or two runs.

“Anytime you can get a big lead and come out of the game early it’s nice,” said Hardy, who left in the seventh inning. “It’s fun just to be able to relax and watch the game.”

Hardy hit a solo shot and a three-run drive for his 11th multihomer game. Manny Machado, Adam Jones, Chris Davis and Ryan Flaherty also connected as Baltimore (66-49) reached double figures in runs for the first time since April 24.

“Baseball’s full of circles,” Machado said. “One day we’re going to win a game 2-1, 1-0 and the other day we’re going to blow a team out. It’s just part of the game.”

Chris Tillman (9-5) gave up two runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings. He was pulled after a two-run drive by A.J. Pierzynski made it 12-2.

“It was one of those nights where everything kind of clicked for me and I was able to execute most of my pitches,” Tillman said.

The result was Baltimore’s first win over the Cardinals in 11 years. The Orioles — who were the St. Louis Browns before relocating — went 1-2 in St. Louis in 2003 and were swept in three games at Camden Yards in 2011.

The Cardinals and Browns once shared Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, but now the teams rarely run into each other.

In this one, a three-run drive by Machado and Hardy’s first home run helped Baltimore go up 5-0 against Justin Masterson (1-1) in the third. That was enough to propel the AL East-leaders to their ninth win in 12 games.

Making his second start for the Cardinals since being traded from Cleveland, Masterson allowed five runs and seven hits in two-plus innings. He also walked three, hit two batters and threw a wild pitch.

“This is not the best thing you want to do when you come to a new team,” Masterson said.

“He couldn’t find the plate tonight and when he did, his pitches were more elevated than they were last time out,” manager Mike Matheny said. “When he elevated the ball, they elevated it as well.”

Hardy connected with two on in the fourth off Nick Greenwood for an 8-0 lead. At that point, every Orioles starter either had a hit or scored a run.

Baltimore leads the majors with 144 home runs and has at least one in seven straight games. The Orioles are 55-25 when they homer.

The blowout was sweeter for the Orioles because many of the team’s former greats, such as Brooks Robinson and Cap Ripken Jr., were on hand to watch it before being honored in a ceremony afterward.

“Yeah, I think it’s awesome,” Tillman said. “It’s a good night to do what we did, with all these guys around here, and it’s fun. We were hanging out with them in the clubhouse.”

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Adam Wainwright recovered from a shaky start to earn his 14th win, tying for the major league lead, and rookie Kolten Wong homered twice to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night.

Jhonny Peralta’s two-run double keyed a three-run first off Brandon Workman and Wong had his first multihomer game. The Cardinals took two of three from their stripped-down opponents, who beat them in the World Series last fall but are in last place in the AL East.

Wainwright (14-6) needed 66 pitches to slog through the first three innings after the start was delayed by rain for more than an hour for the second straight night. The 6-foot-7 right-hander retired 11 in a row before Boston put two on with two outs in the seventh.

Manager Mike Matheny left his ace in and Yoenis Cespedes took a third strike on a full-count curveball, catcher Tony Cruz sprinting to the dugout before home plate umpire Gary Cederstrom’s call.

Wainwright has won at least 14 games each of the last three seasons. Wily Peralta won his 14th game earlier Thursday for the NL Central-leading Brewers, who are one game ahead of St. Louis.

Workman (1-5) retired nine straight before Wong lined a 1-0 pitch over the right-field wall with one out in the fifth to put the Cardinals up 4-2. Wong then added his ninth homer in the seventh, a 423-foot shot off Craig Breslow.

Mike Napoli and Christian Vasquez each drove in a run in the third, Wainwright’s roughest inning. He had seven strikeouts and allowed seven hits, four of them in the third.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Joe Kelly kept it together, just as Shelby Miller did in the opposite dugout.

The matchup of former teammates who were each other’s best man at their weddings was a high quality draw. Each allowed a run in seven innings.

“There was some emotion there,” Kelly said after the Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 on Wednesday night. “After the first pitch, I’m just pitching again. It’s like you’re in the playoffs.”

Miller’s postgame reaction was similar.

“I thought it would maybe a little bit more odd than it really was,” Miller said. “When he’s in the box, you’re pitching to him. When we’re out there, we’re trying to win the game. That’s it.”

Xander Bogaerts drove in both runs, including a go-ahead sacrifice fly with the bases loaded off closer Trevor Rosenthal in the ninth inning. Three of Rosenthal’s six losses have come when he’s entered a game tied in the ninth.

“I thought he wanted to get ahead of me with a fastball so he could use his off-speed pitches,” Bogaerts said. “So I just went in there and keyed on the fastball.”

Junichi Tazawa (2-3) worked a perfect eighth and Koji Uehara worked around two hits in the ninth for his 23rd save in 25 chances. Boston won for just the third time in 14 games and snapped St. Louis’ three-game win streak.

Rosenthal (1-6) was working in his fourth consecutive game, in five days.

“I felt good, I felt like I was making some good pitches,” Rosenthal said. “I felt good the whole inning. There was no question I was ready to go.”

Kelly worked seven innings only twice in 22 starts for St. Louis the last two seasons and Miller got that deep for just the eighth time in 54 career starts.

Kelly got a nice ovation while walking to the bullpen to begin warmups, with hundreds of fans standing. There were more cheers when he stepped onto the mound for the first time, and before his first at-bat leading off the third.

The crowd cast yet another vote against the trade that brought starter John Lackey but came as a shock in the clubhouse. They cheered Kelly’s infield hit after the Red Sox successful challenged an out call by first base umpire Gary Cederstrom.

The Red Sox loaded the bases with none out in the ninth against Rosenthal, a single by Yoenis Cespedes, double by Mike Napoli and intentional walk to pinch hitter David Ortiz. Bogaerts lined out to center for a sacrifice fly and the lead.

The first pitch was delayed 1 hour, 3 minutes by rain.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jon Jay hit an RBI single with two outs in the eighth inning to break a tie and lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 3-2 win over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night.

The Cardinals won their third in a row and fourth in the last five. Boston has lost three in a row.

Jay, who missed the previous five games with a wrist injury, blooped a hit to left off reliever Junichi Tazawa (1-3) to bring in former Red Sox A.J. Pierzynski with the winning run.

Reliever Pat Neshek (5-0) picked up the win by striking out the side in the eighth.

St. Louis closer Trevor Rosenthal recorded his NL-leading 35th save in 39 chances.

Boston beat St. Louis in six games in last year’s World Series.

St. Louis starter Lance Lynn gave up two runs on four hits over seven innings. Boston starter Rubby De La Rosa surrendered one run on six hits over six innings.

Kolten Wong tied the game 2-all with a two-out RBI single in the seventh off reliever Tommy Layne.

St. Louis took a 1-0 lead in the fourth on a run-scoring single by Matt Adams. The hit drove in Matt Holliday, who doubled with one out.

Boston tied the contest in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Christian Vazquez. Daniel Nava reached safely on a two-base error by third baseman Matt Carpenter to begin the inning.

The Red Sox took a 2-1 lead in the seventh on Will Middlebrooks’ infield ground out. With the bases loaded and one away, he hit a two-hopper to the mound. Lynn bobbled the ball while looking to the plate and was forced to throw to first base.

Holliday was ejected in the seventh inning by home plate umpire Mark Ripperger for arguing a called third strike.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — For six innings, Matt Garza was in top form. Then he tweaked a left oblique and it all fell apart for the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Brewers’ bullpen quickly surrendered a two-run lead that had once seemed so secure in a 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.

“It was bad enough where I had to take myself out of the game and I don’t do that,” Garza said. “There’s too much left in the season and I thought I’d make the smart play.”

Manager Ron Roenicke said Garza will be examined on Monday after feeling his side grab on one of his final pitches.

“He couldn’t keep going,” Roenicke said. “Great game, great fastball. He had a lot working.”

Garza said he had a similar injury last spring.

“I hadn’t even thought of it and it just happened, and you try and think of what you did,” Garza said. “It felt like a muscle grab, and it was one of those, and son of a gun.”

John Lackey won his St. Louis debut when the Cardinals rallied for three runs in the seventh inning, capped by a go-ahead from rookie Oscar Taveras.

The Cardinals took two of three from NL Central-leading Milwaukee and pulled within one game of the division lead.

“We played a good ballgame,” Roenicke said. “Got a couple of runs of Lackey and put up some zeroes and you feel pretty good about the game.

“It didn’t work out.”

Lackey (1-0) was the Cardinals’ big catch at the trade deadline that capitalized on Boston’s sell-off. The right-hander won the clinching Game 6 of the World Series against St. Louis last fall allowed two runs and seven hits in seven innings and is 12-7 overall.

Trevor Rosenthal struck out Carlos Gomez with two on for his major league-leading 34th save in 38 chances.

Matt Holliday homered off Zach Duke with one out in the seventh. Recently acquired A.J. Pierzynski hit a tying single off Jeremy Jeffress (0-1) and Taveras singled up the middle.

Aramis Ramirez had an RBI single in the first for Milwaukee, his seventh hit of the series, and Mark Reynolds hit his 19th homer in the second.

Lyle Overbay pinch-hit for Garza in the seventh with two outs, a runner on first and the Brewers up 2-0. Garza had been coming up the dugout steps, but Roenicke said the pitcher hadn’t heard him say he was coming out.

“When you’re talking about obliques, you can’t go out there,” Roenicke said.

Overbay singled, raising his career average to .364 against Lackey, but Gomez popped up. Garza was out after just 71 pitches, and the Brewers’ bullpen quickly surrendered the lead.

Garza needed just 38 pitches and faced the minimum the first four innings. He went to a full count for the first time against Matt Adams, who doubled leading off the fifth.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis manager Mike Matheny decided at the last minute against giving slumping infielder Kolten Wong the day off on Saturday.

It proved to be a smart move.

Wong homered and had three RBIs and Justin Masterson won his St. Louis debut as the Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 9-7 on Saturday night.

St. Louis, which had lost three of its previous four, moved two games behind first-place Milwaukee in the NL Central. The Brewers had a two-game winning streak snapped.

Wong, who entered the contest mired in a 6 for 36 skid, went 3 for 5. He slammed a bases-loaded single to trigger a five-run outburst in the second inning that put St. Louis ahead to stay 6-1. He also hit a solo homer in the first.

“That worked out fine for all of us,” Matheny said of the late pre-game move. “It was nice to see him bounce back. With a young player, when he has a couple of rough days, you wonder, `can he leave it behind and go back to having a nice approach.’ He jumped right in and had some big at-bats.”

Wong was 2 for 3 in his career against Brewers starter Kyle Lohse, a key factor in Matheny leaving him in the lineup.

Wong, who entered the game hitless in his previous eight at-bats, spent some extra time studying his approaches at the plate following Friday’s 7-4 loss to Milwaukee.

“I knew the reason I was striking out as soon as the game finished yesterday,” Wong said. “I was swinging way too hard trying to do way too much.”

Masterson (1-0) gave up five runs on seven hits over six innings. He was acquired from Cleveland on Wednesday for minor league outfielder James Ramsey.

“There was a little rust out there,” Masterson said. “But with that intense offense that we had, and some solid defense, that makes it fun to be out there.”

Aramis Ramirez and Scooter Gennett drove in two runs each for the Brewers. Ramirez had three hits for the second successive game.

Lohse (11-6) took the loss. Lohse, who pitched for the Cardinals from 2008-12, gave up nine runs on nine hits over four innings. He struck out two and walked three. Lohse gave up eight earned runs in a 15-5 loss at Pittsburgh on June 6.

“It was just a rough one,” Lohse said. “I just left too many balls out over the plate.”

St. Louis closer Trevor Rosenthal recorded his 33rd save in 37 opportunities. He allowed a leadoff double to Jean Segura. Rosenthal then appeared to hit Elian Herrera with a pitch, but the call was overturned by a challenge. Rosenthal then got Herrera to ground out. He struck out Carlos Gomez and Gerardo Parra to end the game.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Aramis Ramirez knows he’s not supposed to have success like this against Adam Wainwright.

“I don’t have an explanation for it,” the Milwaukee Brewers cleanup man said after setting the tone with a home run and an RBI double off the St. Louis Cardinals’ ace in a 7-4 victory Friday night. “He’s been one of the best pitchers in the game for a while.

“I don’t know, for some reason I get good swings and good pitches to hit.”

Ramirez has three homers, eight doubles and eight RBIs to go with a .415 average against Wainwright, the best in the majors against the right-hander. The homer was the first Wainwright has ever allowed on a 3-0 count.

“After the fact I probably should have been ready for it,” Wainwright said. “He had no reason not to (swing) right there.”

Wily Peralta won his 13th game to tie for the National League lead and Jonathan Lucroy’s bases-clearing double chased Wainwright (13-6) in a four-run sixth inning that put Milwaukee up by six. The NL Central leaders are three games ahead of the Cardinals.

“Whenever you’re down in the zone with 95 mph sinkers and throwing offspeed early in the count for strikes, it’s tough for the opposing team,” Lucroy said.

Matt Carpenter had two hits and three RBIs and Matt Holliday homered for St. Louis, which has lost three of four.

Peralta, Wainwright and the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw all have 13 wins. Last year, the 25-year-old Peralta was 11-15 with a 4.37 ERA in his first full season in the majors.

Peralta (13-6) allowed two runs and five hits in 6 2-3 innings to win his fourth straight start. He’s given up two or fewer runs in all of them, a stretch that began with seven innings of three-hit ball and no earned runs at home against the Cardinals on July 13.

Ramirez hit his 13th homer leading off the second, made it 2-0 with an RBI double in the third and had an infield hit in the fifth.

Francisco Rodriguez got the final out for his 32nd save in 36 chances.

— Associated Press —

SAN DIEGO (AP) — It was an emotional day for Shelby Miller, who said goodbye to friend and teammate Joe Kelly and then went out and helped the St. Louis Cardinals rebound from their ugliest loss of the season.

Miller and three relievers combined on a three-hitter, and Oscar Taveras hit a two-run homer for the St. Louis Cardinals, who beat the San Diego Padres 6-2 Thursday to avoid a three-game series sweep.

The victory came hours after the Cardinals traded Kelly and Allen Craig to Boston for right-hander John Lackey.

Miller teared up afterward while talking about Kelly.

“That’s a tough one for all of us, to lose two guys like that, especially Joe for me,” Miller said. “I grew up with him and came up through the farm system with him. He’s going to do well there. I wish him all the best.”

Miller (8-8) held San Diego to two runs and three hits in six innings. He struck out five and walked none in his first win since June 7.

St. Louis roughed up rookie Odrisamer Despaigne a day after playing what manager Mike Matheny called the team’s ugliest loss of the season, a 12-1 defeat Wednesday night.

“They’re pros,” Matheny said. “I mean, things are going to happen in our lives that we’ve just got to be able to compartmentalize. These days here I think prove the toughness that these guys develop through the season. You have to put it aside and get the job done.”

Taveras connected with two out in the second, sending a drive to right for his second homer. But St. Louis’ 2-0 quickly evaporated.

Jedd Gyorko, on a tear since returning Monday from a 44-day stay on the disabled list, homered to right off Miller with one out in the bottom half. It was Gyorko’s second in two games and seventh overall. Will Venable homered to right with two outs, his fifth.

“There were a couple of solo homers there that got him on the edge a little bit, and then he stepped in and started making some really nice pitches,” Matheny said. “I saw him driving the ball down through the bottom of the zone. He pitched a little more.”

Said Venable: “I didn’t see a pitch from him other than a fastball and it was a good one. He just pitched well. When you are aggressive with your fastball you have the option of going to your off-speed stuff. It wasn’t like we were beating him on his fastball. We hit a couple of them but he was doing what he wanted really.”

St. Louis jumped in front again on Matt Holliday’s two-run single in the third, and Peter Bourjos added an RBI single in the sixth.

Despaigne (2-3) allowed six runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings. He won his first two starts but is 0-3 in his last five outings.

— Associated Press —

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Rookie Jesse Hahn held St. Louis to one run and four hits in seven innings and Jedd Gyorko and Will Venable each homered and drove in four runs to lead the San Diego Padres to a 12-1 victory Wednesday night.

Yangervis Solarte, obtained from the New York Yankees in the trade for Chase Headley, had four hits and the Padres tied their season high with 16. The Padres fell one run shy of their season high.

Will Venable hit a three-run homer to right to cap the eight-run seventh. The Padres had five hits, three walks and a hit batter off three relievers in the inning.

Hahn (7-2) struck out three and walked two in winning his third straight start. The lanky righty retired the first seven batters.

— Associated Press —